MARK Neeld was the last to know his senior coaching career was over, never to be resuscitated.

His own board had made the philosophical decision to sack him weeks ago, and agreed upon it as far back as Friday.

Only when Peter Jackson called at 7.55am yesterday to request a meeting did he realise his number was up.

Defiant to the end, Neeld admitted “I don’t know” when asked what had gone wrong with his coaching tenure.

And that is the problem for Neeld, after a coaching career with just five wins in 33 games.

Was it the fact he went in with a sledgehammer rather than a chisel, determined to crack through decades of poor culture but instead meeting huge resistance from a stubborn playing group?

Was it that his coaching tactics were supposed to mirror the style of Collingwood — down the line, no-risk, little adventure — but changed only a few weeks into 2012 when he realised his list had no chance of pulling that game plan off?

Was it that he never had a great relationship with his players — adequate, but not rock-solid — so in turn they never went to war for him on-field?

Or was it the massive list changes that saw an influx of young kids brought into the system last year but also recycled players like David Rodan, Shannon Byrnes, Cam Pedersen and Tom Gillies that created a perception problem that he had no real plan?